In a significant move to develop efficient mechanisms for legal immigration and recruitment of Indian work force, Saudi Arabia and India have agreed to sign a broad labor agreement following a meeting of the joint working group in New Delhi on Friday.
“This framework labor cooperation accord will be signed in the very near future,” said Sibi George, deputy chief of the Indian mission, while speaking by telephone yesterday from New Delhi, where he attended the meeting of the joint panel.
George said: “The draft agreement on manpower cooperation has been agreed and initialed. This model five-year pact will be signed immediately after internal procedures are completed by the government agencies of the Kingdom and India.”
The agreement will also help control human trafficking by agents and middlemen. It will help Indian emigrants (other than white collar workers), who are fairly vulnerable to exploitation and are ignorant of relevant laws and procedures.
George said the New Delhi meeting, which was met with the consensus of both parties “is the first step toward a comprehensive agreement on labor cooperation.” He added that this is an important move as high cost of migration as well as the policy of nationalizing jobs by host countries including the Gulf states further reduces the emigration benefits to workers.
The Indian government is pursuing a proactive policy to transform the emigration system and empower the emigrants through systemic interventions at the national, bilateral as well as multilateral fronts.
According to one estimate, more than two million Indian expatriates have been living and working in Saudi Arabia, which has launched a new labor policy to cut reliance on foreign workers.
Saudi-India labor pact soon
